Sports
Tynes: The death of Alabama's inevitability during the Nick Saban era
Yes, make no mistake, it did happen. I saw it with my own eyes. Just when things looked dour late, Nick Saban had no choice. The sun had already set behind the San Gabriel Mountains. Damn, Saban. Don’t do it, not like this. Not in front of the Rose queen, the royal court and all of the maize and blue Teslas in Arroyo Seco. Not in front of Audra McDonald, for God’s sake. But in the late moments of the Rose Bowl, Saban had to have cracked open his sacred talisman and offered another wish to the genie he’s imprisoned in his golf khakis since Obama was still in office.
January in the playoff meant there had to be a certain crimson magic brewing under the leaves in Pasadena. Do you think all of these Bammers flew ’cross the nation, in L.A.N.K. paraphernalia to watch the Tide roll over? The entire pathos of Alabama football in the last two decades was predicated on Letting Any Naysayer Know. In fact, Bama fans told me at halftime they were confident they’d win the ballgame even if their team started slow, wasn’t leading in yardage and forgot how to convert on third down. What else did Bama do besides win during the winter’s coldest moments despite the collective groans coming from everywhere except the Southeast.
Michigan defensive end Josaiah Stewart (5) reacts after stopping a run by Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe (4) to defeat the Crimson Tide in overtime of the College Football Playoff semifinals at the Rose Bowl Monday.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
In a battle for entitlement between Michigan and Alabama, the press was painting Michigan the mighty underdog leading into the game, even if the oddsmakers in Vegas tagged the Wolverines as slight favorites. Some of us are still too young and beautiful to remember, or even give a damn, frankly, about the Big Blue from yesteryear. Most of the vexatious Michiganders we’ve grown to hate for morphing into a modern Notre Dame migrated from the Midwest to Santa Monica to live year ’round. So, excuse me if I can’t be bothered to remember that Bo Schembechler lost five times in the ’70s in the Rose Bowl, or take the “Michigan vs. Everybody” mantras seriously. For large runs of the playoff semifinal, Wolverines fans didn’t look like they believed the sacred vows sewn onto their shirts. It was settling into their faces as the game was rumbling toward its conclusion. The thump of impending heartbreak was part of their football pedigree.
The game was uncertain for most of the last moments. The only certainty felt like what always happens in these moments, when the mighty machine of Alabama makes its final adaptation and kills off another would-be from seeing the national championship game.
That was: until Jim Harbaugh countered with his own Hail Mary. It was just hard to notice at first.
In front of nearly 100,000 in the Rose Bowl, the warm January afternoon turned chilly. When the sun disappeared, the cold instantly came, and late into the fourth quarter that freeze crept to the bottom of the bowl. We, on the sidelines, started to breathe as heavy as those standing on top of Terry Donahue Pavilion. I couldn’t believe it. Alabama, after being battered and beaten for most of the contest, was not only winning late, but looked like a completely altered image. It felt like Saban was going to do it, again. Everyone in the Rose Bowl felt the sickening churn in the depths of our guts. Saban had turned another national stage into a disaster, a vast abyss of icy winds and hellacious fury. No wonder I could see the frost from my breath.
It took another hour for God to answer Harbaugh’s call and for the temperature to even out while the winds stopped whipping from end zone to end zone. When Michigan tied the game with 90 seconds left in regulation, the howl ringing inside the stadium mirrored the Big House in Ann Arbor. Its eventual victory in overtime was even more damning. Not only did they kill the beast, launching Michigan to their first real title game in the school’s history, they slowed the unstoppable Southeastern Conference for the first time in nine years from putting one of their behemoth programs in the title game. A feat so spectacular, it left nearby SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, standing under the goal post where the Wolverines stopped the Tide, with his jaw dropped.
As the fireworks shot off from behind the goal posts, Wolverines flooded the field from the opposite sideline. A blizzard of confetti parachuted down from the heavens. It almost didn’t seem real: but there on that field died the illusion of divine inevitability. Saban and the Tide were no longer the infallible beasts of college football. It was a feat that could only happen at the Rose Bowl.
Wolverines players were skipping toward the locker room after the trophy presentation, roses betwixt their teeth, battle scars on their bodies. Not many players in the recent history of college football have gone to the underworld and come back alive. But there was no doubt they belonged here, at last. In the dark of the night in Pasadena, right before they disappeared to the party in the locker room, were players screaming to the moon, “I DON’T GIVE A PISS ABOUT NOTHIN’ BUT THE TIDE!”
Alabama offensive lineman Tyler Booker, left, and quarterback Jalen Milroe walk off the field after losing to Michigan in the Rose Bowl Monday.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Saban and his starting quarterback, Jalen Milroe, rode by the locker rooms on a long golf cart as the Michigan celebrations continued — Wolverines fans shouting the university mottos and fight songs above them from the connecting bridges of the stadium. Milroe was shielded by a towel over his head, but it was clear he was listlessly staring into the nothingness of his cleats. Saban was seated next to his soldier, wearing the mug of the defeated general.
By the time he was seen at the dais in front of the gathered press, Saban appeared even more tortured — forced to endure the same agony he’d been dishing out to the rest of the country for as long as some of us watching had been alive. That reality was silently shaking him to his core. There has rarely been a postseason defeat in the glitzy dynasty Saban built in Tuscaloosa County. And this one, of course it was this one, where we all may have seen the truth rear its ugly head. I’m sure someone’s meemaw is hewing now about how Saban deserves the ax. Even at the end of his remarks to the media, he and his wife, Terri, exchanged a long, somber hug once he was done delivering his sullen final words of the season.
“I just wish that I could have done more as a coach to help them be successful and help them finish.” Saban said, clicking his teeth and looking away with reddening eyes. There’s an innate pressure to playing at Alabama. One of those includes titles, which the Tide have missed on in three straight seasons now, their longest drought with Saban at the helm. All that remained was another missed chance. Every second Saban sat there, it was sinking in. “All we can do now is learn from the lessons that, sometimes, failings bring to us.”
It was a sight many of us never thought we’d never see: Nick Saban, the mortal man.
And, he wasn’t the only one. Let them Bama boys tell it, they just didn’t live up to the standard tonight.
“You know, even though guys got they heads down, you gotta be proud to accomplish what we have so far,” defensive lineman Justin Eboigbe told a small scrum of media. His eyes were as low as anyone’s that night. “We were able to be SEC champions. You have to look at the positives, not just the negatives right now.”
Tyler Booker, the Tide’s starting left guard who went to high school at IMG with Michigan’s winning quarterback J.J. McCarthy, was another Bama player who kept a cool head after the loss. He noted the team was young and would be back. On the field after the game, helmet off, he found McCarthy and hugged him tight. “I love you baby,” he said. Booker pulled him in tighter. “I’m so happy for you,” he said. “Go finish the job.”
Alabama running back Jase McClellan (2) runs the ball under pressure from Michigan Wolverines linebacker Junior Colson (25) and defensive back Will Johnson (2) during the fourth quarter at the Rose Bowl Monday.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
“We’re still trying our best to embody the standard,” he said after the game. “We talked a lot about the standard after the Georgia game and we kind of got away from it today. We have to make sure we get back to it and keep it through the whole [game].” Booker said he was going to use the playoff experience as a driving force to get Bama back to their contending ways next season. “Just remember this feeling,” the sophomore said, noting how young this team was. “A lot of guys are coming back. Guys in the right position are going to step up and help us win next year.”
One thing Michigan disrupted on the Alabama offensive line was a direct challenge to the group’s set of rules as a unit. They had a lot of movement across their defensive line and offered a few stunts that confused the Tide’s linemen. Booker acknowledged that Michigan was certainly the best defense in the country. “When we were in six-man protection or five-man protection, they had a good tell on what we were doing,” he said. “They had rule-breakers over there.”
“Of course we’re expected to win every year, but this is football,” he continued. “College football is different now. Everybody’s good, now.”
Terrion Arnold, one of the Tide’s starting corners who said that the game would be more like a heavyweight title fight, told me after that the difference was execution. OK, sure, but what about running it on fourth-and-goal from the three-yard line with the game on the line in overtime? “It’s one of those things that the offense practices,” he said of the run by Milroe. “I love when the ball is in his hands. He’s a playmaker. Unfortunately, we came up short. But, I wouldn’t of had it no other way than with the ball in his hands.”
Behind some dark sunglasses, he turned zen considering what it meant that Bama came up short. Most of these players have lived with the immense demands of being the kings of college football for quite some time. What is required to survive in Title Town Tuscaloosa is a different request than some other programs. Eventually, as players who’ve won it all before for the Tide have told me, everyone learns how to shoulder the weight of being the sport’s crowning champion for the last generation. It just seems, now, that maybe college football’s one great civilization is finally falling.
“You have to look forward, pick your guys up and really grow from it,” Arnold said, noting it’s also something you have to constantly do to survive in this world. “This is one of those things where you can get emotional, get down on yourself, beat yourself up, but you can’t do that in life. The sun is gon’ rise tomorrow, the moon is gon’ [shine] tonight. So we have to keep lookin’ forward. We have to continue to keep livin’.”
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Russell Wilson and Sean Payton spent just one NFL season together, but tension lingered after a rocky year.
And it appears the tension that built up from that tumultuous stretch continues to linger.
Wilson’s interview on the “Bussin’ With the Boys” podcast, recorded before last month’s Super Bowl between Seattle and New England, recently resurfaced.
In the interview, Wilson doubled down on his October comment labeling Payton “classless,” saying he felt slighted by his former coach’s remarks.
Head coach Sean Payton of the Denver Broncos talks to quarterback Russell Wilson on the sideline during an NFL preseason football game against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium Aug. 11, 2023, in Glendale, Ariz. (Ryan Kang/Getty Images)
“[When] you’ve been on the same side or this and that, and I got the same amount of rings as you got, meaning Sean, right?” said Wilson, who won a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks as Payton did coaching for the New Orleans Saints.
“I got a lot of respect for him as a play-caller, this and that, but to take a shot, I don’t like. I don’t think it’s necessary, you know, I mean, especially when I’m not even on your own team anymore. So, for me, there’s a point in time where you have to, I’ve realized, I’ve stayed quiet for so long. There’s a there’s a time and place where I’m not.
“I know who I am as a competitor, as a warrior, as a champion, too, and, you know, I’ve beaten Sean, too. You know, like we’ve been on the same place and the same thing. And so, it’s not a matter of disrespect. Just don’t disrespect me.”
Sean Payton and Russell Wilson of the Denver Broncos during an a game against the Minnesota Vikings at Empower Field at Mile High Nov. 19, 2023, in Denver, Colo. (Ryan Kang/Getty Images)
After a rocky one-year stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024, Wilson joined the New York Giants last offseason. However, he was relegated to a backup role after just three games.
Rookie Jaxson Dart quickly showed promise once he had the chance to start, but his season was briefly derailed by injury. Jameis Winston — not Wilson — stepped in for Dart in a handful of games. Dart threw three touchdowns in a Week 7 matchup with the Broncos, nearly pulling off an upset in what was eventually a close loss.
After the game, Payton said Dart provided a “spark” to the Giants’ offense.
“I was talking to [Giants owner] John Mara not too long ago, and I said, ‘We were hoping that that change would have happened long after our game,’” Payton said.
The New York Giants’ Russell Wilson attempts to escape a sack by Dallas Cowboys defensive end James Houston (53) in the first half of a game Sept. 14, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Payton also said the Broncos would have faced less of a challenge had Wilson been under center.
“Classless … but not surprised,” Wilson responded in a social media post. “Didn’t realize you’re still bounty hunting 15+ years later though the media.”
Despite last season’s struggles and chatter about his football future, Wilson does not appear ready to call it quits in 2026.
“I wanna play a few more years for sure,” he said. “I think, for me, I’ve always had the vision of getting to 40, at least. I think the game is different. Quarterbacks, we get hit. It’s not, you know, we get hit hard, but … there’s certain rules. I mean, back in the day when I started, bro, it was you just get [clobbered].
“I mean, so I feel like the game allows you to, you know, live a little longer, I guess. I feel healthy. I feel great. But I think, more than anything else is, do you love the game? Do you love studying? Do you love the passion for it all? Do you love the process? Do you love the practice? Do you love — everybody loves the winning part of it, but it’s process. There’s a journey that you got to be obsessed with. And that part I’m obsessed with.”
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Related Article
The early rounds of the BNP Paribas Open began Wednesday, with top seeds slated to start play Friday during the 12-day ATP and WTPA Master 1000 tournament.
A busy stretch of the tennis season reaches another gear at Indian Wells Tennis Garden, the second largest outdoor tennis stadium in the world.
While many consider it the “fifth Grand Slam” because of its elite player field, amenities and equal prize money for men and women, professionals acknowledge the tournament is part of a stressful stretch on the tennis calendar.
Indian Wells is followed by the Miami Open, another two-week Master 1000 tournament. The tour stops are known as the “Sunshine Double.”
Some players made the short trip from Indian Wells to Las Vegas this past weekend to participate in the MGM Grand Slam, an exhibition designed to help players ramp up for back-to-back tournaments.
American Reilly Opelka, a 6-foot–11 pro, said managing fatigue after a series of tournaments before hitting Indian Wells has altered his practice and play in exhibition matches, including a loss to 19-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca in Las Vegas.
“Normally in any kind of competition, you get excited and play with a pressure point … but you don’t feel this when you are practicing,” Opelka said.
“I was trying to feel like this a few days ago while practicing with … [Tommy Paul,] but instead we got tired and hungry. … That usually doesn’t happen. We just decided to stop and go to eat somewhere.”
Paul said despite the decision to cut practice short, he feels fresh for the upcoming events.
“I started the year pretty well and for Americans, we are excited for the Sunshine Double,” Paul said.
Casper Rudd lost to Opelka during the first round of the Las Vegas exhibition. The Norwegian also lost a week ago during the first round of the Acapulco Open, falling to Chinese qualifier Yibing Wu in straight sets.
Rudd said he felt “extremely tired” after the Australian Open in January.
Rancho Palo Verdes resident Taylor Fritz, ranked No. 7 in the world, said the best way to prepare yourself for grueling tour schedule is “putting [in] the time, work and repetition.”
“… Be there, be focused on the quality that you are doing,” said Fritz, a 28-year-old who won the Indian Wells title in 2022.
While some players are guarding against burnout, others struggled to even reach California. Some players who live in Dubai, including Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, have to contend with closed airspace triggered by the U.S. and Israel bombing Iran.
The ATP announced Wednesday that, “the vast majority of players who were in Dubai have successfully departed today on selected flights.”
Sports
Law firm fighting for women’s sports in SCOTUS battle comments on ruling possibly impacting SJSU trans lawsuit
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A law firm leading the charge in the ongoing Supreme Court case over trans athletes in women’s sports has responded after a federal judge suggested the case’s ruling could impact a separate case involving a similar issue.
Colorado District Judge Kato Crews deferred ruling in motions to dismiss former San Jose State volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser’s lawsuit against the California State University (CSU) system until after a ruling in the B.P.J. v. West Virginia Supreme Court case, which is expected to come in June.
Slusser filed the lawsuit against representatives of her school and the Mountain West Conference in fall 2024 after she allegedly was made to share bedrooms and changing spaces with trans teammate Blaire Fleming for a whole season without being informed that Fleming is a biological male.
Meanwhile, the B.P.J. case went to the Supreme Court after a trans teen sued West Virginia to block the state’s law that prevents males from competing in girls’ high school sports.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is the primary law firm defending West Virginia in that case at the Supreme Court, and has now responded to news that Slusser’s lawsuit could be affected by the SCOTUS ruling.
“We hope the ruling from the Supreme Court will affirm that Title IX was designed to guarantee equal opportunity for women, not to let male athletes displace women and girl in competition. It is crucial that sports be separated by sex for not only the equal opportunity of women but for safety and privacy. Title IX should protect women’s right to compete in their own sports. Allowing men to compete in the female category reverses 50 years of advancement for women,” ADF Vice President of Litigation Strategies Jonathan Scruggs said.
Slusser’s attorney, Bill Bock of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, expects a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the legal defense representing West Virginia, thus helping his case.
(Left) Brooke Slusser (10) of the San Jose State Spartans serves the ball during the first set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Oct. 19, 2024. (Right) Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans looks on during the third set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. ( Andrew Wevers/Getty Images; Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
“We’re looking forward to the case going forward,” Bock told Fox News Digital.
“I believe that the court is going to find that Title IX operates on the basis of biological sex, without regard to an assumed or professed gender, and so just like the congress and the members of congress that passed Title IX in 1972, allowed this specifically provided for in the regulations that there had to be separate men’s and women’s teams based on biological sex, I think the court is going to see that is the original meaning of the statute and apply it in that way, and I think it’s going to be a big win in women’s sports.”
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared prepared to rule in favor of West Virginia after oral arguments on Jan. 13.
Slusser spoke on the steps of the Supreme Court on Jan. 13 while oral arguments took place inside, sharing her experience with a divided crowd of opposing protesters.
With Fleming on its roster, SJSU reached the 2024 conference final by virtue of a forfeit by Boise State in the semifinal round. SJSU lost in the final to Colorado State.
Slusser went on to develop an eating disorder due to the anxiety and trauma from the scandal and dropped out of her classes the following semester. The eating disorder became so severe, that Slusser said she lost her menstrual cycle for nine months. Her decision to drop her classes resulted in the loss of her scholarship, and her parents said they had to foot the bill out of pocket for an unfinished final semester of college.
President Donald Trump’s Department of Education determined in January that SJSU violated Title IX in its handling of the situation involving Fleming, and has given the university an ultimatum to agree to a series of resolutions or face a referral to the Department of Justice.
Among the department’s findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a match. ED claims that “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in online videos and interviews.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
SJSU trans player Blaire Fleming and teammate Brooke Slusser went to a magic show and had Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas despite an ongoing lawsuit over Fleming being transgender. (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)
SJSU Athletic Director Jeff Konya told Fox News Digital in a July interview that he was satisfied with how the university handled the situation involving Fleming.
“I think everybody acted in the best possible way they could, given the circumstances,” Konya said.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Related Article
Russell Wilson escalates feud with Sean Payton, labels Broncos coach ‘classless’
$163K in fake medical bill charges; AI uncovers it for you
After Warner Bros. merger, changes are coming to the historic Paramount lot. Here’s what to expect
Commentary: As ‘The Pitt’ suffers a digital meltdown, a human with analog experience saves the day
Britney Spears Open to Treatment Plan as Team Weighs Options
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
Fact check: Did French border guards mock influencers returning from Dubai amid Iran war?
Iran’s fight for survival / The widening war / Trump’s nebulous goals : Sources & Methods
Map: 4.9-Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Louisiana
Paxton vows he’s ‘staying in this race’ even if Trump backs Cornyn in Texas GOP clash
Which Kurdish groups is the US rallying to fight Iran?
-
World1 week agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Wisconsin4 days agoSetting sail on iceboats across a frozen lake in Wisconsin
-
Massachusetts1 week agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Maryland5 days agoAM showers Sunday in Maryland
-
Massachusetts3 days agoMassachusetts man awaits word from family in Iran after attacks
-
Florida5 days agoFlorida man rescued after being stuck in shoulder-deep mud for days
-
Denver, CO1 week ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Oregon6 days ago2026 OSAA Oregon Wrestling State Championship Results And Brackets – FloWrestling